The Perks of Being a College Athlete

Being a college athlete means sacrificing big nights out on the town for playing water pong or curling up with a movie if I have a game the next day. However, some of the great perks of being an athlete are the connections you immediately form with fellow athletes on campus, which could mean scoring tons of invites to awesome parties! Being on campus two weeks early, I was definitely ready to go to my first mixer between the sport teams. Wearing the typical skirt-and-top college party outfit, I headed downtown with four other freshmen.

As I opened the door to the house, I was greeted with cheers of "FRESHMEN!!" coming from the main room. Even though Bucknell has decided that we are formally addressed as "first-years", that rule is not typically followed by upperclassmen. Our captain shoved a piece of paper in my hand, and told us to listen up. About twenty girls circled around us and started singing, "BU has a soccer team, we play it on the grass…"

After they finished the whole song, I realized that on the paper in my hand were the lyrics to what I had just heard. We had 5 minutes to memorize the tune, then stand on the blue and orange stage and sing it in front of the entire party! Although my face turned bright red, the freshmen successfully accomplished our task. I was surprised to find that the focus of my first college party wasn't alcohol, which is so contradictory to what everyone says. Even if you aren't old enough to drink, obnoxiously singing at the top of your lungs is something anyone can have a great time doing!